foo dog tattoo sleeve, FINISHED!

foodogwip5
Originally uploaded by tagscats

Uploaded pictures from the last two touchup sessions on my foo dog tattoo sleeve. 2 weeks ago, we had a 3 hour touchup session, that basically went over nearly everything....the blues of the peonies, the darks of the mane and tail and background, did some whites of the spots on the foo dog body as well as highlights of white on the swirls of the mane and tail.

Last night, did one last little session, just went into the whites again, and a bit of the light blue over my wrist bone (ow!). But, it's finished!!

I will so miss Shayna...I have been working with her for nearly 2 years, first on my tiger sleeve on my right arm, then the foo dog on my left. Lots of hours spent together, and we have become quite good friends. She leaves Huntsville next week to open a tattoo shop with her boyfriend in North Carolina. I wish her the very best, but will miss her. I hope we can stay in touch. The whole thing just leaves a lump in my throat.

Click HERE to see all the new pics in the set...

foo dog tattoo sleeve, more progress shots...

foo dog eyes
Originally uploaded by tagscats

So, I posted last night that I went in and we worked the sleeve AGAIN, lol....I can't believe I'm doing this every week. It's SO much fun having a sore arm all the time. And, it was sore last night, feels a bit better today.

Anyway, check out the progess shots of the peony flowers that have been finished, and the foo dog eyes and a bit of white added here and there...only touchups mostly to do now....perhaps 2 more sessions??

Going in again next Wednesday....

See all progess shots here...

foo dog tattoo sleeve, work in progress...

inside arm, wind bars & smoke
Originally uploaded by tagscats

Last Thursday we did more work on my tattoo sleeve. Seems strange to be going in so often for these sessions, but with Shayna leaving in April, time is of the essence. The nice thing is that we are able to work different portions of my arm in each session.

We did background this session, traditional japanese windbars and colored the smoke. The smoke looks reddish in these photos, but, as it heals is turning a light grey. The windbars will stay darkish.

Tomorrow, we will be doing more work, hoping to finish the blue peony flowers and perhaps do some more highlights of white and some touchup. Almost finished....

More photos of my foo dog sleeve here

Foo dog, upper half shading 3

Foo dog, upper half shading 3
Originally uploaded by tagscats

Friday afternoon I spent getting the body and tail of my foo dog shaded, I so love the swirls in his tail! Not a bad sit, except that poor Shayna had a cold and was wearing a mask. But she said the highlight of her day was getting to work more on my sleeve. It's coming along!

Foo Dog Tattoo Sleeve work in progress

foodogwip5
Originally uploaded by tagscats

Session two of the work on my left arm foo dog sleeve. Did some shading of the foo dog, and some of the coloring on the peony over my wrist. These photos were taken the next morning. It's healing now, and I lost a bit of the blue over the wrist/hand, that is a tough spot to tattoo and keep ink, it will take some touchup. But, no worries, still lots to do. And touchup is a part of getting tattoos, especially large ones.

The shading on the foo dog looks really amazing, I can't wait to finish the rest of her. There will be white highlights eventually on this one as well.

foo dog tattoo sleeve

foo dog face
Originally uploaded by tagscats

This was a long tattoo sit. And, I had approved the design last week that Shayna had drawn up and we were going to start the outline. I was thinking it would be piece by piece, starting with the foo dog, but, Shayna was SO excited to do this piece, she had the entire arm pretty much mapped out. lol So, we started the stenciling. Amazingly, we got the foo dog stencil on in one try, which is so difficult to do wrapping something around one's arm. Then the peony under my arm, and the kanji tag, smoke, and the cherry blossoms.

Probably about 3.5 hours of continuous tattooing....but, we got the entire outline finished. I was pretty tired, and, Shayna had a blister on her thumb, lol.

So, it's a traditional foo dog, a symbol of protection. Closed mouth, which represents a female. Together with peonies, also symbols of protection. The red tag contains the kanji for "mother", as this entire sleeve is a memorial to my mom. And the cherry blossoms which also symbolize the beauty and frailty of life. The smoke curls are lighter as they will be perhaps greyish, or, we may color them. The foo dog will be black and grey shaded, with bluish eyes. The peonies will be bright blue (blue represents wisdom), cherry blossoms shades of pink. The background will be wind, also a traditional background for the foo dog, and, it fits in with the wind bars and hummingbird already on my shoulder. When you see foo dogs in pairs guarding temples, the male is typically on the right, and the female on the left. Also, foo dogs are actually depictions of lions, they are not dogs. So, I have a tiger on my right arm, a lion on my left. It's not entirely known the origin of foo dogs, some think it came from stories heard about the Buddhist temple lion guardians, others think it comes from an early Japanese Shinto religion that had a lion protector, and the early artists used dogs as models for they had no idea what lions looked like.


This feels so right, I feel like I've been waiting for this tattoo for a long time. It's for you mom.

See all the photos here...

http://flickr.com/photos/tagscats/